


Still Have Each Other

by tabbytabbytabby



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Angst, Christmas, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hale Family Feels, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:20:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26599687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabbytabbytabby/pseuds/tabbytabbytabby
Summary: Laura and Derek return to Beacon Hills after two years of being away and visit their family's graves.
Relationships: Derek Hale & Laura Hale
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: Laura Hale Appreciation Week 2020





	Still Have Each Other

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 3 of Laura Hale Appreciation Week: The Missing Years.

The night is cold. Cold enough to cut through Laura’s coat and gloves and have her shoving her hands deeper into her pockets. Derek’s walking silently next to her as they make their way quietly down the path. No one’s here at this time of night, and that’s just as well. The last thing either of them want is to be recognized.

It had been risky even coming back to Beacon Hills at all, but both of them need this. It’s their second Christmas without their parents, their sister, and their family. Two years of it just being the two of them all alone. First traveling through the Midwest then all along the East Coast, too afraid to stop for too long lest they be found, before they did settle. New York City hadn’t been ideal. There was a lot of noise and smells, none of them great for their werewolf senses. But it’s crowded and felt like a good place to lay low. 

Laura’s been working at a local diner while she works on her degree online, while Derek finishes up high school. He took some time off after everything that happened, but Laura had insisted he go back and finish up. He’ll finally be graduating in May. Laura knows that’s been on his mind a lot the past few months, as he’s been working on filling out applications for colleges Laura insists he applies to. Normalcy. She just wants him to have some normalcy. 

It’s not easy, of course. How could it be after everything that happened, but they have to try. Their parents would want them to.

Every time she tells Derek that his eyes shutter and his face goes blank as he retreats in on himself. She doesn’t know the whole story yet, only bits and pieces. Most of it she’s gotten from the nights he’s woken up from a nightmare about what happened.

She wishes Derek would just talk to her, let her help, but some reason he feels like he can’t. It hurts more than she’ll admit. 

She’s been hoping that maybe visiting their parents graves would help give him a little bit of closure. Both of them, truthfully. They’d left town so quickly after the fire they didn’t even get to give them a funeral, something that still eats away at her. They deserved better than that. All of them. But it had been too big of a risk to stick around. For all they knew there were targets on their backs. There still could be.

Which is why they have to be careful.

“Over here,” she says, nodding her head to their left, down another path.

“How do you know?” Derek asks.

“I can feel it,” Laura says. And smell it. Even years dead parts of her parents' scents still linger here. It makes an ache form in her chest. One that has her bringing her hand to press over her heart to try and stop it. She uses the other to take Derek’s hand as they walk slowly down the path, until they come across the gravestones they’re looking for. She doesn’t count them. She doesn’t need to. She knows they’re all there. All the Hale’s save for three. 

The sour scent of grief fills the air as Derek ducks his head. His shoulders shake as he quietly starts to cry. Laura wraps an arm around him, relieved when he doesn’t push her away. Instead he turns, burying his face in her neck as he cries harder. Laura can’t hold back her own tears after that. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, whether it’s to her or their family, she’s not sure. “I’m so sorry.”

“Shh,” she murmurs, carding a hand through his hair. “Shh it’s okay, Der. I’ve got you.”

Derek just cries harder, and Laura holds him tighter. She rests her head on his chest, listening to the rapid beating of his heart, as they both cry out their grief. 

She’s not sure how long they stand there like that, but eventually the tears subside. They stay close though, both of them needing the contact. Laura looks down at the grave’s taking in the names of those they lost. In the distance, a clock chimes signally the start of a new day.

“Merry Christmas, Der,” she says. “And Happy Birthday.”

Derek takes a shuddering breath and leans in, placing a soft kiss on the top of her head, “Merry Christmas, Laur.”

Laura’s not sure whether to count it a miracle or not as snow starts to fall around them. It melts on her skin in tiny drops. She smiles. It hasn’t snowed here since she was a child, but she remembers the last time it did. How she’d begged her parents to let her stay home from school and play in it. There wasn’t much, but they’d agreed. They’d spent the day running through the preserve before going back into the house and wrapping up in blankets on the couch with hot chocolate in hand. It’s something she hasn’t thought of in years, like most things. The memories have been too painful. But now they’re all she has. Maybe it’s a sign though, that her parents know they’re here. That they’re somewhere up there, looking down on them. And this is their gift to them.

She looks over at Derek to see his head tipped back and his eyes closed, a small smile on his face. One of the few real smiles she’s seen in years. If that’s not a sign she doesn’t know what is. Yes, today is hard. There will be a lot of hard days. But they still have each other to lean on, even on their worst days. That’s a miracle all on its own.


End file.
